'He just started shooting,' Afghan survivor testifies in US military court

From Chuck Conder, CNN

Updated 12:00 PM ET, Sat November 10, 2012

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is accused of killing 16 Afghans.

Story highlights

Survivors of a shooting rampage in Afghanistan testify before a military court

A father and his two sons describe how they survived

A relative of some of the victims tells the court he discovered some of the bodies burned

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers

It was the middle of the night in southern Afghanistan's Panjwai district when Haji Naim says he was awakened by the sound of barking dogs and gunshots.

Moments later, a man clothed in U.S. military fatigues and a T-shirt burst through the door of Naim's home and opened fire, hitting him in the neck, Naim testified early Saturday at a hearing for an Army soldier accused in a mass killing of Afghan civilians.

"I said 'What are you doing? What are you doing?' Naim told the court at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Washington, during a live satellite uplink from a base in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

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Naim's testimony came amid the fifth day of an evidentiary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to support the military's case against Bales, who faces 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder in the predawn attack.

The outcome of the Article 32 hearing will determine whether Bales, 39, is court-martialed, and whether he will face the death penalty.

Bales has not entered a plea in the case, though his attorneys have said Bales suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered a traumatic brain injury during a prior deployment to Iraq.

Naim's son, 13-year-old Sadiquallah, testified he was awakened by a neighbor screaming that an American was killing people.

The teen said he ran to a storeroom, hiding behind the curtain that covered the entrance way. Still, he said, he suffered a wound when he was grazed in the head by a bullet.

"I saw him once," Sadiquallah said of the shooter. That was when he entered the compound and "shot up the family."

Sadiquallah's older brother testified the man was wearing military camouflage pants and a T-shirt, and was carrying a rifle with a flashlight.

During testimony late Friday, a relative of some of the victims testified about the discovery of the bodies.

Khamal Wazir told the court he found his cousin's mother on the floor, her body beside the door of the family compound.

"She was shot in the head," he said.

Inside, he found the bodies of other relatives -- each apparently shot in the head -- piled on top of each other and partially burned.

The fire was out when he arrived, though smoke lingered in the house.

"Yes, the bodies were burned," he told the court.

Two Afghan guards at Camp Belambay, a small U.S. outpost near the two villages, laid out a possible timetable for the attacks.

One guard told the court he encountered a man who was walking onto the base about 1:30 a.m. and told him to stop. He said the man approached and said, 'How are you?" in Pashtun and went inside the base.

Another guard said he saw an American man leaving the base around 2:30 a.m. The man also greeted him in Pashtun, asking "How are you?"